


Forgotten Alters

by Justghostingby



Series: Strawbarrow drabbles [6]
Category: Room of Swords (Webcomic)
Genre: I know it meant massoniare, M/M, Temples, Worldbuilding, and wrote this instead, but I went what about the scholarship?, for the gods prompt of month of ros, its cooler than it sounds, lots of scholarship, or don
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:27:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28080930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justghostingby/pseuds/Justghostingby
Summary: For the day 14 “gods” prompt in month of RosGyrus investigates an unknown shrine and meets an unexpected companion
Relationships: Gyrus Axelei/Kodya Karevic
Series: Strawbarrow drabbles [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987075
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	Forgotten Alters

It had been three weeks since Gyrus discovered the small shrine hidden in the back woods behind the Academy. Two weeks since he’d been able to find it again, and one week since he’d decided to study it properly for his Astrology project. 

Which was going a bit overboard for project worth not even half his grade - Gyrus admitted as he pushed into the small cave that kept the shrine hidden - but he’d never been one to do things by halves.

Besides, it was really just an excuse to come back. He lit his magic torch and looked around, drinking in the now familiar sight. The simple but oddly clean alter was adorned with two sets of broken feet beside each other, all that remained of the god or gods that once stood in its center. The strange carvings littering the walls, half burned black. And the half-moon-shaped hole in the ceiling forming a natural window that always seemed to show the Hunter’s constellation in the sky. There was something about the place, its broken gods and its secrets, that drew him in like a moth to the flame.

He set down his basket on the alter before the remains of the statue, A few Mandu left over from dinner, not much, but his sorry offering would be enough to appease whatever god it was whose feet he presented them too.

Proper manners completed, Gyrus drifted to the side of the cave, running hesitant fingers on the markings along the wall. It seemed like a star chart from the pattern and shapes that were not hidden beneath the dark burns. Flipping open his notebook, he added new scribbles to chart he was attempting to recreate. So far he’d managed to find a decent map of the autumn skies, but the constellations were off, as if they’d moved over time, and several key figures were missing.

It was the oddest thing. Gyrus frowned, absently chewing on the end of his pen. Was he wrong about the star alignment? That didn’t seem to make sense, especially since even if he were to put his magic torch out, the light of the stars would still shine on the symbols through the clearly structured hole at the top of the cave. Could it be then, that this shrine was so ancient the natural drift of time and the birth of new stars had changed it to be almost unrecognizable?

He glanced once more at the alter, and the four feet standing there. It had certainly seen enough ware for something like that. But surely, he turned his head back to the wall, if it were so ancient, those burn marks would have faded long ago, whatever ancient rituals that brought it into being long forgotten.

Unless they weren’t a part of the shrine, Gyrus thought as he lifted a hand, reaching towards the shadowed burns. Had they been the result of a recent forest fire? How then, had they come into the cave when there was nothing to burn? He spread his fingers, lowering them closer, hovering a hairs breathe away. Was the chill that ran through them his imagination, or was it radiating from the burned surface below?

“What are you doing?” Gyrus snatched his hand away, whirling around to see a strangely familiar man leaning against the altar, arms crossed. 

“Yaah!” Gyrus screeched as he stumbled back away from the wall. “Don’t scare me like that? How did you even get in?”

The man raised an eyebrow, “I came in through the entrance,” he said, like Gyrus should have known this. “But you didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

“I’m studying!” Gyrus yelped, still trying to catch his breath from the sudden scare. “For my class in the Academy. We’re supposed to study star gods, and I found this old shrine with the star chart,” he gave a sheepish grin, “and I thought I’d try and figure out who it’s for and do a presentation on it.”

“Well that’s one mystery solved for you then.” The man shrugged, brown ponytail shifting as he moved. “This shrine belongs to The Hunter.” Gyrus wanted to protest, but then his eyes landed on the blue hunting robes and the bow strapped to the stranger’s back, and recognized them for the first time for what they were: the ceremonial robes of The Hunter’s priests. 

“Oh.” Gyrus couldn’t stop the small bubble of disappointment that rose in his gut. “I didn’t think, I mean, he’s so popular, and his shrines’ are usually so well tended...” Gyrus trailed off, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as he realized he’d just called the priest lazy.

The priest scowled. “Well, he’s got a lot of shrines. It’s not his fault if some of them get lost.”

But it is yours, Gyrus doesn’t say. aren’t you supposed to care for your gods temples? He glanced at the faded blue fabric on the man’s chest. Or do you treat them like you do your ceremonial robes?

Which wasn’t entirely fair. Even though the stranger’s robes were worn down, they were well kept and clean, not at all what you’d expect from someone who didn’t even bother to sweep a shrine. Therefore Gyrus could conclude that this probably wasn’t the shrine he was stationed at, or if it was, he’d only just arrived. Gyrus lowered his eyes, feeling guilty for assuming the worst. 

His attention drifted once again to the star maps on the walls. It seemed obvious, with the cut in the ceiling directly showing The Hunter’s constellation, but Gyrus had never known a single temple of The Hunter, and there were many, to ever focus on the stars. Hunting, Beast-Taming, even Mental Health, all facets of The Hunter God with temples in their honor. But never the stars.

Strange for a god who’s primary myth involved hunting a traitorous beast across the starry sky.

“Do you think,-” he hesitated, not wanting to make this priest think even less of him, “-that this is a new facet of The Hunter? One from ancient days, before the Empire, when he was a minor god more heavily tied to his constellation?” He peaked at the priest hopefully. Such a find would make for a fantastic paper. 

The priest blinked, baffled, before heavy eyebrows drew together to study him with an intensity that threw Gyrus off. Finally he sighed. “How can someone be so smart and so dumb at the same time?” he asked.

Gyrus drew back offended. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Who says it’s The Hunter whose facet is the stars?” The priest gestured to the four feet on the alter. “There are clearly two gods on this alter. Why don’t you think its the other one instead?”

Two gods? Gyrus stepped closer to the alter and examined the feet. That made sense, since no form of The Hunter’s ever involved multiple legs. But why two gods? Unless...

“He was in a Duality?!” Gyrus shrieked, and the man beside him winced. “The Hunter’s married?”

“Not every god in a duality is married!” The priest crossed his arms, Gyrus raised an eyebrow, and the man’s face dusted a light pink. “Okay, so most gods in dualities are married...by mortal standards...” Gyrus’ eyebrow got higher, and the man sputtered. “But the Ainju gods aren’t! So its not always a thing!”

“The Ainju gods are all facets of the same god,” Gyrus pointed out, “that’s hardly the same.”

“Uugh,” the man grumbled, pinching his brow and muttering something Gyrus couldn’t quite make out about cultural drift and short lifespans. “Look,” he lowered his hand to point at the wall, the stars are clearly on the right side, while The Hunter is standing on the left, so wouldn’t that make the stars on his partner’s side?”

Gyrus blinked, staring down at the feet. He supposed you could think that the ones on the left looked more like hunting boots that The Hunter might wear, but they were hardly distinctive. Still, a priest would probably know better than he on the subject.

“That raises other questions though,” Gyrus said. “If he’s in a duality with a star god, how come we’ve never heard of it? Even if this god were minor, they should have at least featured into his myths.” He glanced over at his companion, to see if he was following. “Do you think it tied into how he became a constellation?” The myths always featured The Hunter “hunting through the sky” usually pursuing the great traitor, or some equally horrible beast, but very little went into actually explaining how he got there. If this shrine held any hints at all, it could massively effect how he was worshiped. Or just make for a really fascinating presentation.

The priest was scowling at the walls, something dark glittered in his blue eyes as he glared at the strange burns. “Don’t get your hopes up,” he grumbled. “These are shadow burns.” 

“What?” Gyrus jumped away from the edge of the wall, closer still to the priest. “But that means...”

“That he was consumed by shadows and cast out of heaven? Yeah. Not gonna find many answers on that Kid.” There was a bitterness in his voice, raw and painful. “The other god’s probably long forgotten now.”

That was probably true, Gyrus had to admit, since the only god he knew that had been cast out of heaven was The Loadstar, cursed to reincarnate as a mortal again and again until his evil was purged from him. But there was no way that was the god here, since The Hunter’s battle with that great traitor was legendary. 

Still, something wasn’t right here. Gyrus examined the man beside him, noting the tightness in his shoulders and the closed off nature of his stance. He seemed to know an awful lot for a simple priest. A suspicion began to form in his mind, combining the strange, lived in appearance of his supposedly ceremonial robes and the odd familiarity of his face. But Gyrus knew he’d have to put it to the test before he could be certain. 

“You wouldn’t happen to have a guess as to how that happened would you?” he tried to keep his voice casual.

The man at his side shifted to turn his back to Gyrus. “Not a clue,” his voice was strangely congested. “But look,” he spun back around to face Gyrus, hands wide in a gesture of practiced nonchalance. “We’re simple mortals. What do we know of the minds of those beyond us?”

The pieces began to click into place in Gyrus’s head. Maybe it was the way the light of The Hunter’s constellation seemed to surround him, creating a blue glow the exact same color as his eyes. Maybe it was the way he stood, firm and planted, with his hands spread, like the statue in The Hunter’s main temple in town. Or maybe it was the simple fact that no one ever used “mortal” to describe themselves unless they were decidedly not. But there was no denying it. This was no simple Priest. The Hunter himself was standing before Gyrus.

By all rights, the thought should have terrified him. But Gyrus saw the pain hidden beneath those fierce brows, and the way he was so carefully trying to hide it. Gyrus felt an ugly twist of guilt, knowing it was his own fault the pain was there. Who wouldn’t hurt when someone tramped through their old shrine, dragging up gut-wrenching memories of a failed Duality as they tried to analyze it like some kind of project?

He wanted to apologize. But he bit his tongue. The Hunter had made it clear he was pretending to be a mortal, and Gyrus didn’t have the heart to rip away his anonymity after he’d already done so much damage. 

Unsure what to do - for what could comfort a god? - Gyrus reached for the basket on the altar. “Here,” he fished out one of the Mandu and held it up to the god. “Would you like to eat one?” It wasn’t much of an offering, it never had been, but Mandu made him feel better, so maybe it would cheer up the god.

The Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Stealing from the gods? Shouldn’t a learned man like yourself know better?”

“I’m not stealing from the gods,” Gyrus rolled his eyes. “I brought four, one for each foot, just in case. But since one of these gods can’t accept an offering anymore, its free to give away see?” He smiled as invitingly as he knew at the god in front of him.

The Hunter reached out, taking the Mandu from his hands. Gyrus felt the slightest brush of electricity from where there fingers touched, off shoots of his godly power no doubt. He tried very hard to pretend he hadn’t noticed.

The Hunter bit into the Mandu, eyes closing as the flavor settled in his mouth. Gyrus bit back a smile. It wasn’t every day a god liked your cooking. He watched The Hunter swallow, then lower the half eaten Mandu in his hands and say, “you should have one too.”

“What?” Gyrus jumped. “I can’t!” He promptly snapped his mouth shut before he said the rest, _I’m not a god like you._

“Sure you can,” The Hunter shrugged. “You brought four right? So there’s still one more that’s not for The Hunter. Besides,” he gave Gyrus an almost mischievous grin, “The Hunter welcomes all lost creatures to eat at his forgotten temples.”

That sounded like a lore drop Gyrus should probably write down, give the priests something to fuss over for the next hundred years. But instead he reached into the basket to take one of the Mandu. 

“To The Hunter,” Gyrus raised the Mandu in a slight toast. “May he forgive us lost mortals,” _and may you forgive me for digging into a painful history,_ he mentally adds.

A slight smile tugged on The Hunter’s lips as Gyrus bit down on the pork bun, and Gyrus could have sworn it shone as brightly as his stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Kodya: And then the mortal said the Hunter was married! Married Nephthys! Dualities aren't marriage! How has time changed so much that the mortals think Duality means marriage? They didn't think that before!  
> Nephthys: (remembers the ceremony where the priests dressed all in white and brought flowers to celebrate their "union", remembers all the sacred art of them hugging or kissing or leaning against each other, remembers how young lovers would leave offerings in their temples)  
> Nephthys: You sure about that Kody?


End file.
